Faculty: Christina Coyle, MD

Division of Infectious Diseases

Pirofski and Kim to be Inducted Into the AAP

Drs. Liise-anne Pirofski and Kami Kim will be inducted into the prestigious Association of American Physicians (AAP) at the joint ASCI/AAP meeting in April 2013.

Liise-anne Pirofski, MDDr. Pirofski is Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Microbiology & Immunology, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and Selma and Dr. Jacques Mitrani Chair in Biomedical Research. Her laboratory focuses on immunity to encapsulated pathogens, specifically Cryptococcus and Pneumococcus, the leading causes of fungal meningitis and pneumonia, which combined account for more than 1,600,000 deaths annually. Her research seeks to identify the mechanisms that govern immunity to encapsulated microbes, aiming to better predict disease susceptibility and to improve therapies and vaccines. She is co-developer of the damage-response framework, a theory of microbial pathogenesis.

Dr. Pirofski earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, after which she trained in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital and New York University (NYU) Medical Center and in infectious diseases at Einstein/Montefiore. Following her clinical training, she did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Cell Biology at Einstein, after which she joined the faculty at Einstein in the departments of medicine and microbiology and immunology.

Kami Kim, MDDr. Kim is Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases), of Microbiology & Immunology, and of Pathology. She runs a basic science laboratory focused upon understanding the pathogenesis of toxoplasmosis and malaria. Recently she has developed collaborations with clinical investigators at the Blantyre Malaria Project in Malawi to understand the clinical impact of HIV co-infection upon cerebral malaria. She is also interested in understanding epigenetic and genetic factors that govern the host response to parasitic infections, opportunistic pathogens and tuberculosis. Dr. Kim is co-director of the NIH-funded Training Program in Geographic Medicine and Emerging Infections (with Dr. Herb Tanowitz) that supports graduate students and post-doctoral fellows (MD or PhD) pursuing mentored basic science and translational global infectious diseases research.

Dr. Kim graduated magna cum laude in biology from Harvard University and received her medical degree from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She trained in internal medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and in infectious diseases at University of California, San Francisco. Following her clinical training, she did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, after which she joined the faculty at Einstein in the departments of medicine, microbiology and immunology and pathology.

The AAP, founded in 1885 for the "advancement of scientific and practical medicine," represents a subset of physician-scientists who have shown leadership in American academic medicine and science. Membership is a great honor; the organization's current 1200 active members and 550 emeritus members include Nobel laureates and members of the National Academy of Science and the Institute of Medicine.